Chinese Whispers
by Yun Min
Summary: He was gone so sudden; the others contemplate his loss. For none can move on. Shadow of Badlock spoilers.


The news had spread through the endowed like wildfire. They all knew.

_Tancred Torsson was dead._

Chinese whispers was what the other students played. They all knew something had happened, but no one knew what. Rumours flew around the school.

_Tancred's dead, the storm boy's dead, the weather's dead, Tancred's lost his head._

None of them knew the truth.

_The Stormbringer would bring storms no more._

And none wanted to ask.

~*~*~

Piano could be heard echoing throughout the school. Sometimes recognisable, otherwise just melancholy.

_The sound of thunder echoed in the music, interspersed with rain._

Gabe's fingers ran swiftly across the piano. He refused to believe it. Tancred couldn't be gone. He was strong. What hope was there for the rest of them if Tancred was gone? But Emma had seen, she didn't lie. She had tried to help Tancred. Helped, but failed in her goal.

_She had seen his dead body lifted lifeless from the water_.

The music went on though, as it was the only way he could deal. Gabriel needed to unleash his anger somewhere. Anger that was boiling up inside. But they couldn't lose another. There numbers were already too thin.

_Cook had warned them – the balance was starting to break._

So on Gabriel played, ignoring the others, drowning himself in his music.

_Just as Tancred had been drowned._

_~*~*~  
_

Olivia's performances were slowly falling apart. If the teachers noticed, they did not comment. The strain on the children was too much for any of them to bear.

_Rain was streaked in her hair, and Tanc's favourite pair of thunder themed boots were constant on her feet._

Some of the children noticed – thunder and rain could still be seen around the academy. Created by someone though no one knew how. It was her way of dealing.

_Pretend he was still here. Pretend he was still alive._

She hadn't known Tancred well. His death was still felt far too close to her heart for Olivia's comfort. She couldn't deal. However, she knew Emma needed her now more than ever. She couldn't fall apart. Emma needed her. Her friend needed her.

_It didn't stop her falling apart in Fidelio's arms. Charlie wasn't there._

Tancred would want her to carry on and support Emma, she knew he would.

_His smiling face was still there in her mind._

_~*~*~  
_

Fidelio kept his head down. People kept asking him about Tancred – whether he knew anything. It was getting hard to deal when he kept getting reminded.

_He did know. He had been there when Emma shared the news. Watched the tears run down her face._

Like Gabe, he tried to lose himself in his music. But it never worked. He had hardly known the stormbringer, and yet the death brought a heavy curtain over them all. One that couldn't be shaken. So he tried to lose himself in his work.

_He had held Liv as she cried; as she had for Emma. It hadn't made him feel any better._

Charlie wasn't there. Charlie needed to be there. It was all Charlie's fault in the first place, Fidelio knew. But he still wanted Charlie there. Charlie could have kept the endowed together.

_Not Fidelio. He should have been the one to go._

Not Tancred. Not Charlie. There was nothing he could do to help anyone. Just sit there and try and get everyone through it.

_So he picked up his violin and kept playing. And it started to rain._

_~*~*~  
_

Drums beat throughout the corridors of Bloor's Academy. No one dared go near the angry African boy. Lysander was on a warpath. And yet, he didn't dare do anything. He knew they needed him there.

_But damn, his best friend was dead!_

He poured his energies into sculpting instead. The gryphon he had been working on was abandoned. It had been wrecked in the flood, and he couldn't face it anyway. Not after what Emma had told him. He had a new project. Creating a replica of his drowned friend, in the very room in which he had drowned.

_He wished they didn't have to go down there. Wished that he didn't have to stand where his friend had died. _

They had lost. And this time, there had been serious consequences. And Tancred had had to pay the ultimate price. Lysander was angry. The ancestors were angry. When it came, revenge would be swift.

_Tanc's blond hair fizzed with electricity in his mind. _

His best friend was gone. He had to move on. There was no future in the past.

_Still, he knew things would never be the same without Tancred._

_~*~*~  
_

Crying. That was all she could do now. Just cry. Weep for his loss, weep for the pain. She hadn't stopped crying in days. And she didn't plan to stop. She didn't think she could.

_She could have done more. She should have saved him. She was there._

It was all she could do to get up in the mornings. Her art had been reduced to nothing following his death – just stepping foot in the art rooms reminded her, brought the memories flooding back. Sketching elsewhere brought her some relief. But not enough.

_He'd told her he would be fine. She'd known he wouldn't be. She loved him. Nothing was said._

Olivia understood, somewhat her pain. But Emma knew her friend was suffering too. It was unfair to be so dependent on her. Lysander had helped. She was thankful for the African boy. His best friend.

_She wanted him. Needed him. Not a replacement._

Eventually, she sat at the top of the music tower, drawing quietly, Gabriel's music echoing around her.

_Tancred was still in her every thought._

_~*~*~  
_

The flames ran through the city. They would not let the boy die. The children stood seven against six. Without the Tancred, the balance would be once again set even.

_Losing Tancred, losing Billy. The good children were losing._

They would heal him. He was needed. The boy who could bring storms and lightening and thunder and even snow.

_He would live again. With the Red King's power._

Tancred sat up and took a deep breath.

_He was back. And there would be no stopping him._


End file.
